Rotary holds Wheels for Wheels challenge
The Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club held its 6th Annual Howard S. Danner, Jr. Wheels for Wheels Cycling Challenge on April 5 to benefit the Wheelchair Foundation. The event raised about $25,000 and culminated with a celebration at The Community House on Sanibel. Representing Rotary District 6960 and the foundation, Gary Dworkin and Jim Fabry presented the club with an award in recognition of the over 1,400 wheelchairs funded over the years. Rotarian John Danner created the fundraiser in honor of his father, the Rev. Howard S. Danner Jr., a pastor and college professor who was struck by a drunk driver while biking and was paralyzed from the waist down, leaving him in a wheelchair for his remaining 17 years. Fellow members Roger Grogman and John Henshaw co-chaired this year’s event with Danner and were joined on the committee by Maria Espinoza and Tom Green. The Wheelchair Foundation is a nonprofit organization leading an international effort to create awareness of the needs and abilities of people with physical disabilities, promote the joy of giving, create global friendship and deliver a wheelchair to every child, teen and adult in the world who needs one, but cannot afford one.